Selecting, resizing, repositioning and rotating items on your page

Objects on your canvas - images, shapes and text - all exist inside a frame. 

The type of frame changes on the object type, enabling you to customize the object in different ways. However, all frames share some basic features.

Selecting frames on the canvas

Frames may be selected on your page so your can reposition, resize and rotate them.

To select a single frame, simply click on it. It will be highlighted and handles will appear around its edges.

To select multiple frames, either hold Ctrl (Windows) or Cmd (Mac) on your keyboard then select the frames individually. A group of selected frames may be sized together, or have common attributes applied to them (eg: change font on a group of text frames, add a border to a group of image frames).

To select all frames within an area, click down on your left mouse button and drag over the area. All selected frames will be highlighted. If you select a mix of frame types - text, image, shapes - then you may only reposition and resize them.

Moving frames on the canvas

Select one or more frames to drag it to move it to a new position.

Notice that purple guidelines will appear as you drag an frame - these are snap lines to help you align frames relative to other objects on your page. Guidelines are magnetic to help you snap their edges together.

Frames will snap magnetically to each other and to the other guidelines on your pages.

To turn off magnetic alignment, hold the Shift key on your keyboard while dragging the image - you will be able to freely position it on the canvas.

Nudging frames with the arrow keys

You may also select one or more items on your canvas to nudge them into place using the arrow keys on your keyboard.

Adjust the distance of the nudge by clicking on the settings tab.

A larger distance increases the amount the selected frame moves when the arrow key is tapped.

Resizing frames

Frames may be resized by dragging on the handles surrounding their edges. Select a frame to activate the handles.

Image frames and shapes display eight handles - four on the corners and four in the mid-points of their sides. Click down and drag on the handles to reshape the frame.

Pull on the corner handles to resize a frame proportionately.  This is useful if you do not want to cut off part of a photo by changing the shape of the image frame. Pull on the center side handles to change the width and height of the photo. independently. Note that photos will be recropped.

Text frames will only display two handles to change the width of the frame. The text will reposition to fit, if possible at the selected font size.

Rotating a frame

To rotate a frame, click then drag on the rotation icon.  Your frame will pivot around the center of the frame.

If you hold down the ALT key, this will snap the rotation to small preset increments (7.5 degrees) to allow you to get precise alignment on multiple rotated frames. Keep spinning the frame while holding the Alt-key to rotate it to a perfect 15, 45, 90 or 180 rotation, as required. Let go of the Alt-key then the mouse to keep this alignment.

Double-click the rotation handle to reset the rotation to the default position.